Overview

This is the story of the Anglo-American amphibious assault and subsequent battle on the Italian west coast at Anzio which was launched in January 1944 in a bold attempt to outflank the formidable German defences known as the 'Gustav Line'. ANZIO - THE FRICTION OF WAR outlines the strategic background to the offensive before detailing the landing, the development of an Allied defensive position, the battles in and around the perimeter, the stalemate, the breakout and the capture of Rome on 4 June 1944. While assessing the events at Anzio with the eye of an experienced military historian, Lloyd Clark also examines in detail the human response to the battle from high command to foot soldier. He also emphasises the German story - the first time this has ever been done.

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9780755314218

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'Lloyd Clark's lucid, elegantly written book is well overdue... Absolutely first class' Alex Kershaw

'Lloyd Clark's lucid, elegantly written book is well overdue... Absolutely first class' -- Alex Kershaw

Lloyd Clark's lucid, elegantly written book is well overdue... Absolutely first class - Alex Kershaw

A rich account of the campaign Winston Churchill called a story of high opportunity and shattered hopes, of skillful inception on our part and swift recovery by the enemy, of valor shared by both. The Italian theater, writes Clark (War Studies/Royal Military Academy Sandhurst), has long fallen in the shadows of Overlord and what the British call the North West European Campaign, to the extent that most moderns cannot name a single battle-except, perhaps, Anzio, an effort to land Allied troops and secure central Italy. As Gen. Mark Clark boasted, his VI Corps would thus be the first army in fifteen centuries to seize Rome from the south. His ambitions were realized, but only after a long winter's fighting along a mere sixteen miles of front into which more than 300,000 men were crowded, with the Germans and Allies roughly equivalent in number. But the Germans were, Clark demonstrates, for the most part better led; the American frontline commander, John Lucas, was singularly ineffective. He recognized his own disinclination to bold action, but only when Lucian Truscott replaced him did the Allied forces break through a tightly coordinated, bitterly held German defensive line. For all the strategic and tactical planning in the world, battles are a collection of odd moments, and Clark ably recounts several memorable ones: Hitler calmly receiving the news that Kesselring's armies were being thrown back; an American parachutist complaining that the Luftwaffe-targeted rear was less safe than the front, where we had to endure only machine guns, machine pistols, rifle, mortar, small antitank gun, 75, 105, 88, and occasional 150 and 170 mm fire ; and Churchill complaining of the whole enterprise, I thought we should fling a wild-cat ashore and all we got was an old stranded whale on the beach, among many others.Clark does much to disprove the Italian campaign's reputation as a sideshow. Highly readable, and of much interest to students of WWII history. (Kirkus Reviews)

'Lloyd Clark's lucid, elegantly written book is well overdue... Absolutely first class' -- Alex Kershaw

Author Information

Currently Senior Lecturer at the Dept of War Studies, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Lloyd Clark is one of the UK's leading military historians. He has written several books, has lectured all over the world, is a frequent guide to battlefields on four continents and has worked extensively on radio and TV as both historical adviser and interviewee. He has conducted several battlefield tours to Anzio.

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